Working Families Blog is the official blog of New York Working Families, covering issues and politics important to the working families of New York.

Wednesday, February 14, 2007

Westchester-Putnam Chapter: Raising Wages and Winning Elections

The Westchester-Putnam Working Families Chapter is having a good week.

Last night, the Yonkers City Council passed a living wage bill, with the wage indexed to inflation. The vote was originally set for next Tuesday, but the City Council President said, "what the hell, let's do it now", and they did. Now comes the hard part: the bill passed with 4 5 votes, but and it needs 5 votes if there's a veto. With elections coming up in November, expect whether the Mayor vetoes the bill and who votes to override that veto to become hot campaign issues.

But the Westchester-Putnam Chapter wasn't there to celebrate their victory, because yesterday was also Election Day. The chapter endorsed winning candidate Ken Jenkins. Ken won with 81% of the vote out of 2,232 votes cast, and more than 5% of Ken's votes came on the WFP line.